While working on this wedding dress, both of my sergers went on strike. My Pfaff 4874 is 12 yrs old and according to my dealer, I have just worn it out from a lot of useage. Well, hubby took all parts and accessories for my Pfaff with him to the dealer and bought me the new Babylock Ovation serger. I am overjoyed and thrilled. It comes with a package of different presser feet as well as a workbook. The cost is astronomical but he got a very good deal. Hubby knows that I use my machines constantly and said that he doesn't mind spending the money. Of course, my birthday and Christmas gifts this year will be small items.

My Babylock Eclipse DX has a lot of rust caused by smoke damage (hubby smokes a pipe) and it may/may not be able to be repaired. I will know sometime today if it can. I really would hate to give it up as it is my class machine. Truly, I didn't know that second-hand smoke could ruin a sewing machine. If it can be repaired at a reasonable cost, I will be buying a case for it. Marty

Picked up my Eclipse DX (it works) and my new Ovation today. I will set up and work with my new machine next week after I have finished the wedding gown. I know that it has a learning curve and I don't want to try it in the middle of a project. We are not wealthy but hubby dipped into our savings to get it for me when my Pfaff died after being well used for the last 12 years. I am truly blessed in so many ways. Marty

Are you enjoying you new serger Marty? Hope so. Is it a big learning curve for you. I'm still looking for a new serger. Thought I had settled on the Brother but have started hearing/reading a lot of bad reviews. I need to go to my local shop that sells both brother and babylock and test drive them both and see which I like. I did a lot of research yesterday and it is between the Lauren which is more in my price range and the eclipse sx which is slightly higher than my budget. Libby is it the Lauren you have? Does it take regular sewing machine needles or serger needles? That was one thing I couldn't find yesterday.

Brockie, I do not know right off hand if it is limited. I only know for my coverstitch and my Lauren (now) as well as my old serger I only used the el705 needles because I wanted to be safe. I never had a problem with needles because I was careful. I have a Janome regular machine and always had to be careful not to try to use a singer needle in that machine. All manuals tell you that about all Janomes. I had a kenmore before that and it was also made by Janome. So I have always bought only the schmetz needles. About the Lauren. I really love it. It is the grandchild of my first serger as far as the design and what it will do. The original lasted me 22 years. The lauren has a few new features the old one did not have. Differential feed for one and what a blessing that is. Several dials to make fine tuning a bit easier. But I tell you , it goes just as fast and is sooooo reliable. Never fails me.

Hi Brockie, Haven't taken my new serger out of the box yet as I am in the middle of sewing this wedding gown. The bride changed the design of the bodice on Thursday night. It's a good thing that I had not sewn it together. I borrowed my friend's Imagine and it is on my serger shelf right now. I will be returning it to her this next week. At that time, I'll set up my Ovation. From what I can tell by playing with the machine at my dealer's store, there is not a big learning curve as it is very similar to my Pfaff 4874 which was a 10 thread serger. The Ovation just does more things automatically which is a big help to me. When I set it up, I'll take a photo. I cannot see much difference between the Lauren and Eclipse SX ... the Eclipse SX gives you more optional presser feet and has a little bit smaller settings as far as stitch length goes. Some things are built in on the Eclipse SX as compared to the Lauren but not enough to make a major difference. For a good basic serger, the Lauren would fit your needs. However, if you like to change up presser feet and expand your sewing, then the Eclipse SX would allow for that. However, you have to choose what is your style of sewing, your budget and remember, you can always upgrade at a later time. None of my machines are my "last" machine as I will probably upgrade at some point in time in the future. Since 1998, I have bought, donated and traded over 10 machines. Right now, I have 5 machines and every one of them is used on a regular basis for different tasks. It depends on your sewing needs. Have fun!!!Marty

It is out of the box and is being used ... I will start testing some of the different stitches and features over the next few weeks but have some critical alterations due right now for others. It did come with the workbook and I have 10 new feet to try so I'll be making a sampler book. Marty